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Steve Jobs Also Overseeing Apple Tablet or Netbook Device?
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In the Windows world, people seem to love tablets that are for writing on - using a type of pen.
A Mac tablet would have multitouch, which would be great for a number of things, but typing on a device that's flat on a table top isn't going to be very elegant.
The current design of laptop, with keyboard at the bottom and a perpendicular screen is pretty ergonomic.
Does anyone have an idea of how a Mac tablet would either function, or be ergonomic enough to use for more than just a big remote?
The iPhone works because you can hold it in your hands to type... a 10" tablet would need a real keyboard... agreed?
A Mac tablet would have multitouch, which would be great for a number of things, but typing on a device that's flat on a table top isn't going to be very elegant.
The current design of laptop, with keyboard at the bottom and a perpendicular screen is pretty ergonomic.
Does anyone have an idea of how a Mac tablet would either function, or be ergonomic enough to use for more than just a big remote?
The iPhone works because you can hold it in your hands to type... a 10" tablet would need a real keyboard... agreed?
Keep in mind that Netbook keyboards are generally smaller and seriously bad quality compared to your average Macbook. I's rather have a wider but thinner notebook than a small but very thick netbook. Makes sense for students too, if they can just put the computer between 2 normal in their bag. Here's an old mockup I made, based on the bluetooth keyboard:
Actually, I'd add a glass trackpad on the bottom, maybe 2/3 the size of the one on 13" Macbooks. A little palmrest is always nice anyway so you can balance the think nicely on your lap.
Just think 12" powerbook but in the new notebook design and considerably thinner.
Actually, while your concept is pretty, it falls into the same major drawback as all the other netbooks: lack of usability. If you have to put the thing down to use it, what purpose is there to such extreme portability? Why not make it so you can hold it in one hand and actually work it with the other? I don't deny you might work faster two-handed, but sometimes you need to write and walk at the same time. This is why clipboards and legal pads are so ubiquitous in the workplace... easy to carry and use at the same time.
No, while I accept that tablet computers have been available for years now, even a tablet mod for Apple laptops, they have not been truly useful as a means to an end. Knowing Apple, this device will be as revolutionary as the iPod and iPhone and even the iMac were; taking an existing technology and making it something anybody could use and would want to use.
Apple is not just aesthetics, as the one Microsoft commercial commented, but rather, Apple is usability. They don't just make it look good, they make it work right.
iPod Touch isn't tied to a lengthy contract and can be had for $229. (8gb.)
We're talking about a glorified screen w/ wifi 4gb SSD and 1/2gb RAM. Nothing too fancy.
They would really do it at $300 and get decent profit margins.
Also:
The iPhone is a phone + iPod.
The iPod Touch is an iPod.
The iTablet is an internet tablet.
Different products for different people (or uses). You're not going to talk around with an iTablet in your pocket. You will walk around with it to class, read eBooks on it, go web surfing, look up TV info while sitting on the couch...
Yeah, but if at least it runs Keynote and PowerPoint for presentations, that will do for now!
Actually, while you may be partially correct, you're also missing a very important thing, despite what you later say.
Yes, Apple does tend to use the same basic components as their competitors. What you don't see is just how tightly they control those components. Having worked for one of Apple's component manufacturers, I can tell you that if a certain very narrow maximum percentage of a component order fell 'out of spec,' the entire shipment was returned to be 100% tested to remove the out-of-spec components and supplemented by more product, also 100% tested. Any Apple rejects would be either destroyed or added to a similar shipment going to a competitor, depending on how extreme the failed component was.
I don't think Apple would drop that high standard just to make a cheaper product.
My 'theory' is that there is no question whether or not Apple has been working on a device... that is quite clear. The real question, however, is whether or not Apple a) like's the idea and b) will ever release one. It's quite possible they won't.
Basically I agree with you. Hopefully it will run Keynote and PowerPoint for the preseantations on videoprojectors, which is our main request on this kind of device.
Keep in mind that Netbook keyboards are generally smaller and seriously bad quality compared to your average Macbook. I's rather have a wider but thinner notebook than a small but very thick netbook. Makes sense for students too, if they can just put the computer between 2 normal in their bag. Here's an old mockup I made, based on the bluetooth keyboard:
Actually, I'd add a glass trackpad on the bottom, maybe 2/3 the size of the one on 13" Macbooks. A little palmrest is always nice anyway so you can balance the think nicely on your lap.
Just think 12" powerbook but in the new notebook design and considerably thinner.
Mmm...I've wanted something like this since back in the day! Here's how it looked then, thanks to some anonymous person and Photoshop:
Attachments
I don't understand those who say a tablet can be a substitute for a netbook. It can't. Or it can only for a small number of people. I guess they've never owned one.
All the netbook makers are moving toward 10"+ models (except for Sony, who officially does NOT make any notebook, as their Vaio Type P is quite different from your typical netbook), abandoning the smaller ones, precisely because the biggest complaint from their customers was the size of the keyboards. Heck, the whole point of Sony's Vaio Type P is that you can have (nearly) full-sized keyboards in that very small and light body. And since Sony has already done it, I doubt Apple would ever decide to take that same route. They'd rather die than do that.
At the end of the day, the customers cared a lot about productivity. Imagine how they would feel about virtual keyboards.
A tablet would NOT be able to appeal that well to the netbook customer base. If Apple ever makes one, it will be marketed as something completely different.
All the netbook makers are moving toward 10"+ models (except for Sony, who officially does NOT make any notebook, as their Vaio Type P is quite different from your typical netbook), abandoning the smaller ones, precisely because the biggest complaint from their customers was the size of the keyboards. Heck, the whole point of Sony's Vaio Type P is that you can have (nearly) full-sized keyboards in that very small and light body. And since Sony has already done it, I doubt Apple would ever decide to take that same route. They'd rather die than do that.
At the end of the day, the customers cared a lot about productivity. Imagine how they would feel about virtual keyboards.
A tablet would NOT be able to appeal that well to the netbook customer base. If Apple ever makes one, it will be marketed as something completely different.
Possibly. But tablets function perfectly well as a laptop replacement if they allow a standalone keyboard to be used when needed. Of course, they also give you the option to leave the keyboard and have a more compact device if you wish. For this to succeed, though, they need a different UI/user experience when they are in tablet mode. It seems to me that the iPhone UI would be an excellent start in that area.
I am not sure - apple has a way of giving you something before you know you want it.
If anyone could make a tablet capable of converting the nebook userbase - its apple.
I am looking forward to multi-hand multi-touch.
Carrying around both the tablet and a separate keyboard would be such a drag, though. I think people misunderstand how people use their netbooks. I have no official stats, but I suspect many of those who also own the "main" computer, be it a full laptop or a desktop, spend even more time with their netbook than with the "main" one. They might not admit it, because that sounds cheap. But when your netbook can do pretty much everything you ever do with a computer (including typing, a lot), and when you have all the motives in the world to carry around your netbook instead of your "main" laptop (much more portable, so cheap that you wouldn't mind it that much if it's damaged, etc.), that's just a natural consequence.
I think people type on their netbook a LOT more frequently than you think. The netbook is effectively their main computer in so many cases.
True, but I think he was referring to desktop Mac OS X.
Agreed here too. I think some advanced effects and such may be disabled during playback, but that's the case with some older Macs too.
I wonder if the keyboard can be clipped on the tablet.
True on the keyboard. But it's doable: I used to travel with a Palm and a standalone KB. I could check the KB and keep the palm in my pocket, obviating the need for a laptop in a briefcase. And, of course, you can still do light work on a screen-based KB if necessary. Even on my iPhone, I can get useful stuff done, albeit slowly.
I certainly believe many people use a netbook as a main computer; I would if Apple made one. For me, the best form factor would be the old TiBook/new MacBook in the pictures above. For Office and e-mail and browsing (the vast majority of what I do) it would be ideal, and it would be narrow enough to fit in my coat pocket.
This is my prediction.
10 inch tablet
I could see it being called something like Ipod Life, or Ipod Pro because this will be about everything we need in life in a small light package.
no optical drive
Ideal for streaming media, and itunes content
1 usb port
Mobile OSX with flash
This device will be not about writing, or productivity but rather for streaming media, photos, internet, games, reading, video chatting, etc.
Itunes will expand the Itunes store to have a section for Ebooks/newspapers.
10 inch tablet
I could see it being called something like Ipod Life, or Ipod Pro because this will be about everything we need in life in a small light package.
no optical drive
Ideal for streaming media, and itunes content
1 usb port
Mobile OSX with flash
This device will be not about writing, or productivity but rather for streaming media, photos, internet, games, reading, video chatting, etc.
Itunes will expand the Itunes store to have a section for Ebooks/newspapers.
I see the argument for a tablet/netbook I really do. However what you said you would use the tablet for, I can honestly say, that my iPhone gets used for all of those things. It does it pretty well. What the iPhone/iPod touch can't do is write/ edit a document. That is what I'd want a tablet/netbook for. I'm thinking of buying a macbook but am having a hard time justifying the cost since I'd probably only use it four or five times a year. Most of the time the iPhone is enough as I only have to view a document. But for when the iPhone isn't enough I could do with a small lower cost, (I'm not expecting low cost apple remember.) netbook.
IT'S ALL ABOUT OUR KIDS...
I just want something smaller/cheaper that my kids can use Garageband, Photobooth, iphoto, and Safari on.
A small, kids, portable MAC... Hello....
I just want something smaller/cheaper that my kids can use Garageband, Photobooth, iphoto, and Safari on.
A small, kids, portable MAC... Hello....
I think you're missing the point on what a tablet "should" do. Firewire? Ethernet? USB? Full-blown OS? If you think about it, these are the types of things you need on a desktop or a regular laptop because you're producing work that requires that type of I/O. With something like the iTablet (as we are calling it), this would be merely a consumption of information type device, with some light work. You're not going to edit video on it, you're not going to use it to create heavy-duty graphics. You'll use this for reading web pages, some light text work, reading books, listening to pod-casts. Basically it's what the Kindle should be, but more. The "Ethernet" comes from Wi-fi and USB - Bluetooth.
I can totally see something like that working well. Just think about how you (or other people) use their iPhones when removing the "phone" functionality from the device. The amount of functionality you get out of an iPhone is vast, but one of it's main limiting factors is the display size. If that were to be increased, along with processor speed, memory and battery life (because the screen size will have the current battery for lunch), that's a product that most consumers would be able to use. This isn't a device for production, but more on the other end of things.
I was at the Doctors office with my wife the other day and they were all running around with this awkward notebooks in their hands, using the keyboard to type on and having to balance it in the other palm of their hand just to use it. What if you removed the hard keyboard and made it an optional "soft" keyboard the way the iPhone works. This truly would be a useful device at that point in time.
The new device may be released right before college kids go back to school, so I think they will be the primary target for either a netbook or tablet.
It could also be a netbook/tablet hybrid with a detachable keboard and touchscreen. Snow Leopard will have everything necessary to use OSX on multitouch devices. That's my prediction.
It could also be a netbook/tablet hybrid with a detachable keboard and touchscreen. Snow Leopard will have everything necessary to use OSX on multitouch devices. That's my prediction.